Battle poi moves

A friend of mine was talking about different styles and he broke them all down into performance poi and battle poi. now i can tell the difference between the two, but Im curious as to what kind of movements and tricks one should execute. he said something about attack moves but i dont know what those are. do any of you?

I know nothing about battle poi as thats just not my style. I don't 100% understand the idea of battles, you might more so, but would it perhaps be tech kinda stuff? Thats just a vague guess, though.

No tech, just make sure to have fun!

"Battle poi"?
Sweet lord no...

by battle do you mean a staged fight?
or a battle like breakdancers and such do?

the first one doesn't make much sense to categorize moves into, since it would be just pretending to almost hit the other person.

and i just don't like the second one

Well, I can't comment on staged combat with fire tools, since I think it's very difficult to avoid looking corny, but as far as breakdance-style battle, my brother and I sometimes have impromptu face-offs while we practice (he with staff, I with poi), and it's fun mimicking each others moves, but we aren't at all competitive about it. For us it isn't about winning, or being a better spinner - it's just an energetic display of building on each others techniques. It's a good practice technique, too, because it really forces you to rely on seamless transitions and great control. And it makes you practice moves you might otherwise feel inclined to skip or put off until later (as I find is often the case with my practices)! It's how my stepbrother and I started learning devil sticks, too.

We probably wouldn't ever do it outside a practice context, but I don't have anything against the idea - as long as everybody's friends at the end of the day.

Poi is all about performance anyway! So as far as "battle moves," I doubt there really are any that wouldn't otherwise fit into a normal performance poi context; likewise any solid poi move has a place in a "battle" type setting.

I can't imagine there being a big difference. In any dance battle...you dance. Of course in each round you attempt to do at least one largely impressive move. I actually wish I saw more of this in fire dancing. I think without battles break dancing wouldn't even be what it is today, I think it's a good motivation for creativity.

Well, when I battle poi I like to fashion sharp instruments on my poi in place of softness. After that I find the simple three beat most effective. You can tear up an army of zombies that way...

Although there was that one time when I needed the 5-beat... boy what a mess.

lol O.o scary thing is i have done this with knives... me and a mate got bored so we stuck knives on the ends of the chains and swang some 5 beats out well he did 3 beatsas hes only jsut started haha xD

What you need is to attach a fire sword on each one, that could get interesting

OMG THATS SOOOOOOO off what i ment!!!! no competition or staged fight or anything like that, what i meant was the different ways you use you arsenel of moves... i guess, when i see some poi artist like nick or yuta i see lots of "show moves" big anti spins lots flowery stuff and all that, when me and my friends spin we like to "Move through" our poi and do really sharp turns and lots of aggresive expression through what we can do. i dont know... but ive been watching enough styles i can tell the diffrence now i just need someone else to be able to so i can make some attack moves

with that person

I know, I was joking.

Do you mean moves that *look* more like attacks? Rather than moves that are all big flair and showy impressiveness? That would still fall under "performance" moves, if it's meant strictly to entertain an audience...

Perhaps you should consider looking into rope dart techniques - the rope dart originated as a weapon and many of the basic moves are derived from attacks from this weapon... It's much longer than poi, and a lot of fun when you get the hang of it!

Why don't you tell us the difference between the two?

Who are you talking to, doppelGanger, and in reference to what? I'd have a punt at answering your question if you're addressing Mucky, but if you're addressing Salem_Archfiend then I can't help you there.

I was addressing Salem

three beat weave would be totally ineffective in battle as theres always one side of you exposed, leaving you open to attack.....i found this out whilst scrapping with a staff spinner!

Mods, that depends on your timing - you can easily "cover" both sides of you with a 3-beat. It'd still be ineffective, but not for that reason! I'd bet on the staff every time, unless you have poi made of sharp rocks. In which case the staffer would probably have a staff of shark's teeth... Or lasers...